Posts Tagged ‘athlete’

Even if you have bundles of natural talent and technique that can take your far, you can never rely solely on ability, as constantly improving your skills is an absolute must. Anyone that wants to reach the peak of soccer mountain will need to put countless hours of practice in to hone their skills and fitness.

Here are some of the top exercises recommended for improving your soccer skills:

It’s never really easy to push yourself out of the comfort zone and start something new in your life. There’s always this ‘’starting from tomorrow’’ attitude and a plethora of other excuses we so masterfully come up with that stop us from exercising. It’s understandable. People are simply intimidated by all the different types of exercise they can choose from. Should it be yoga, regular gym or running around the block every day?

Millions of hopeful athletes fantasize about the prospect of becoming a professional basketball player. However, NBA recruiters aren’t known for seeking out the best dreamers; they look for the most athletically prepared players.

If you want to maximize your chances of becoming a basketball pro, start living like one. This means having a relentless dedication to changing your diet, improving your body, and tracking your athletic progress. Let’s dive into the best practices for those looking to go pro:

Eat a Diet Fit for Michael Jordan

If one person is qualified to speak about the best diet for peak performance on the court, it’s Tim Grover — the personal trainer of NBA legends like Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, Kobe Bryant, and His Airness himself, Michael Jordan. Over the course of his career, Grover has learned what the ideal diet choices for his clients are. He offers some helpful advice for those who want to get into the game:

When training to build strength, far too many rugby players fall into the trap of simply trying to increase bulk. While I’m not suggesting that you spend all your time outdoors using rugby equipment, I do think it is important to train your body to repeat rugby-specific movements in the gym.

You’ll want to focus not just on strength, but also on power, conditioning, and injury prevention. It’s always best for athletes to focus on sport specific movements and strengthening the weakest links in the chain.

Using weights to replicate rugby-specific movements at a higher intensity, trains your body to become more adept at the skills that actually make you a better rugby player. By following these exercises you should notice marked improvements, not only in your physique, but also your playing ability.(more…)

Athletes drink. A survey that followed 6,000 teens into their mid-twenties found that while young athletes use fewer drugs than non-athletes, they drink far more alcohol.

Fitness buffs, why is this so dumb?

In addition to the obvious short-term health risks — like drunk driving — alcohol impairs muscle growth and prevents muscle recovery. In fact, according to research conducted by Matt Barnes of New Zealand’s Massey University, muscle performance loss was doubled in participants who drank alcohol.

That wouldn’t be a huge deal for a non-exerciser, but it could be a game-ender for an athlete whose future relies on physical fitness.(more…)

Getting to the Olympic podium isn’t easy – but these athletes will give you the inspiration you need to achieve your athletic or fitness goals.

Athletic Edge Sports Medicine in Toronto created this interactive web page by pulling data from the Olympic website and the individual Wikipedia pages for these athletes. The infographic takes a look at the youngest and oldest ages of summer Olympic gold winners.

The infographic covers everything from the Olympic 100M and golf to fencing and beach volleyball. Another neat feature of this web page is it’s interactive set up: Clicking on an athlete will show you the year they competed in and their country. Origin countries and olympic dates across the world from Bulgaria in 1976 to Italy in 1912 to Canada in 1904 are covered.

Two athletes that stand out are Marjorie Gestring and George Seymour Lyon. Gestring is the youngest to win at age 13 in 1932 for the United States, her oldest counterpart being Chantelle Newbery who won at age 27 in 2004 for Australia. Lyon won a gold medal in golf at age 46 in 1904 for Canada, his youngest counterpart being Warren Kenneth Wood who won at age 17 in 1904 for the United States.

These athletes didn’t let their age define their athletic goals – and neither should you. Check out the infographic below for some inspiration:(more…)

Should Athletes Train Individual Muscles or Only Sports Movements?

As a trainer, I have to know how to train people from all walks of life. I’ve seen bodybuilders, strength athletes, middle aged men, obese housewives, trained athletes, newbies, weekend warriors, and about 100 other types of people and athletes. No one routine can be designed for everyone.

Even in niches like baseball athletes, strongmen, and Olympic lifters, there is no one-size-fits-all training routine. You can’t take a baseball pitcher and train the pitching motion for 5 hours a day, 7 days a week. It just won’t work. So how do you train athletes that only need a small variety of movements to be successful at their sport?

The Myth

A long standing myth about training for sports, is that you should only train the common movements for your sport, so that you can get better at those movements. If you know nothing about physiology, kinesiology, or basic physics, then logically that makes sense.

However if you think about how the body really works, you will realize that the body will always find a way to perform any intended movement. Have you ever bench pressed and altered your shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, or foot position in order to eek out that last rep?